As the New Year arrives, a collective cultural discussion erupts about wrapping-up the old and anticipating the new. Often that’s transformed into expectations that you consider a new habit for the New Year.

Have you noticed that your email and social media feeds are flooded with promises? “Follow this 3-step strategy and experience magic.” “Complete this 30-day plan and forever be freed of your worst nightmare.” On and on it goes.

Are there days you intend to write and everything gets in the way? Do you find something keeps intruding on the time you hoped to work on your dissertation? Do you have days when you doubt you can even do it?

Have you noticed that negative comments in your peer reviews or student course evaluations stick with you longer than positive ones? Rick Hansen memorably observes, “the brain is like Velcro for negative experiences but Teflon for positive ones.”

The start of a new semester reconnects you with possibilities. Expectations are high. During this brief time in the semester when optimism is higher than usual, take time to reflect on what accomplishment you’d like to be celebrating when the semester ends.

Let go of any notion that goals, lists, and intentions make you robotic, stifle your creativity, or structure away your flexibility. They are quite the opposite! Goals, lists, and intentions become gifts when . . .

Here’s a technique for shifting your mind from chaos to calm. Designed for those pressure filled days when the list is impossibly long, the mind is racing, confusion abounds, and progress seems impossible.

Despite the accusations and negative connotation, procrastination is NOT a character flaw! Rather procrastination is a strategic response to a negative thought the brain generates either consciously or unconsciously.